Mental Maths for Six Years Old: How to Develop this Skill and Why is it Important?

What is mental maths?

Mental maths is the practice of calculating huge numbers in the head without using any pen, pencil, paper, and/or calculator. This skill helps the students to grasp the mathematical concepts in a fun and interactive manner.

Mental Maths for 6 Years Old

Mental maths is a highly appreciable and life-saving skill for your kid. It would not only help them in academics but also in day-to-day activities. Imagine, learning just one skill, your children would be able to tackle various situations at home or even outside the four walls. For instance, they can calculate how many games they can buy with their weekly pocket money or simply calculate the final cost of snacks they grabbed from the store.

Mental Maths Explained

Mental maths would not only make the mathematical concepts easy to learn but also build logical skills in your child. Inculcating this skill would minimise the dependency on calculators for solving maths problems. Your kid would then be able to do the tedious calculations quickly and can timely complete their assignments.

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Ways to Boost Your Child’s Mental Maths

Since six years olds aren’t proficient enough with numbers and calculations, the big question that most parents stumble upon is how to teach them mental maths? We have done some digging for you which makes teaching mental maths easy.

#1. Start With Groceries

With this technique, your child will master his/her calculations in no time! Just ask your kid to tally up the cost of items in your grocery cart. You can start by adding fewer items so that it is easier for them to calculate. You can also assign them a simpler task,  like how many apples should be added in the cart if you want a total of five apples, provided that two apples are already there in the cart.

#2. Try Hands-on Play

From candies to buttons, come up with different ways of adding, subtracting, and dividing the household objects. For example, place 30 toffees on the table and ask them how they would sort the candies into four bowls if each bowl has to hold the same number of toffees. These activities strengthen the concept and increase the child’s retention power. 

#3. Practice Different Skills and Strategies

Mental maths calculations involve different strategies to solve the problem rather than memorising the answers to the question. This builds cognitive skills in your child and makes them intellectual. There are plenty of video games and online videos that teach different mathematics concepts and referring to such resources would greatly help you. You can also refer to The Real School Of Montessori website to foster mental math skills in your child. It’s a one-stop destination that makes your kid problem solvers and innovators. 

#4. Provide Them With Relevant Word Problems

Students become more receptive to maths concepts if the material is engaging. Creating different mathematics problems for your child would generate interest in them. You can even tailor some word problems based on current events and issues; this can keep them more engaged.

#5. Building Blocks

Are you wondering how to increase the mental math pace of your child? Make them familiar with building block games such as basic addition and subtraction tables. The more your kid becomes familiar with building blocks games, the more they’ll be able to recognise and solve problems. Building blocks would target their logical reasoning and divergent thinking.

#6. Use Flashcards

You can use flashcards for all the multiplication tables. There are various sets of flashcards available in the market, and you can even create your flashcard. You can add one question on each flashcard and play this card game with your child. This would turn monotonous learning into a fun activity. Unlike traditional study patterns, these strategies would inculcate interest in the kids.

#7. Puzzles

Remember how you used to love solving puzzles as a kid? Puzzles are a fun and interactive way of learning. There are a lot of puzzles out there that require number patterns and improve mental maths skills. Puzzles such as sudoku, number crosswords, and math mazes make learning interesting.

Benefits of Mental Maths

#1. Stimulates the Brain: Practicing this skill would boost your learning capabilities and increase brain’s retention powers. Mathematics targets the left side of the brain, whereas mental maths aims at the right side of the brain which is responsible for imagination, visualization, and creativity. This would involve both sides of the brain, thus developing it.

#2. Sharpens Observation Skills: Mental maths helps to build a relationship with numbers. It makes your kid aware of how numbers work and interact with each other. Mathematical concepts are interlinked and built on one another and getting a gist of how they work would help your kid solve complex problems quickly.

#3. Numerous Applications in Daily Life: There are myriad applications of mental maths in daily life. From making sure that your kid does not get cheated at the grocery store and getting the correct amount of change from the cashier, the applications of mental maths are everywhere.

Conclusion

Remember, every child learns at their pace, and you should not put pressure on them. Make the activities fun and get involved with them. Try different techniques and strategies to make the learning easy and engaging. We hope that this article could give you a gist into mental maths and its benefits. We, at The Real School Of Montessori, work as a new-age school that provides one-on-one mentoring to your kids. We aim at project-based learning to make your child innovators and problem solvers.

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